This invention relates generally to a device for washing a body of a user sitting in or reclining on a wheelchair and, more specifically, to a body washer adapted to be set on a floor having a water discharging port, such as on a bath room floor, and to inject droplets of warm water through a plurality of shower nozzles for washing the body of the user.
JP-A-7-308355 discloses a body washer as shown in FIGS. 9-11. In FIGS. 9-11, designated generally as 1 is a housing made of a hard plastic material and adapted to accommodate a user (A), such as a patient, sitting in a wheelchair 11. The housing 1 is in the form of a box and has an entrance at a rear side (left side in FIGS. 9 and 10) thereof through which the user sitting in the wheelchair 11 can enter the housing 1. A door 10 is provided for opening and closing the entrance. The housing 1 has a top wall provided with a recess 3 at its rear end so that the head of the user protrudes from the housing 1 through the recess 3.
The housing 1 has a bottom plate 4 reinforced by a bottom frame 5 made from grid-like rectangular pipes. The bottom plate 4 is provided with a pair of longitudinally extending, depressed portions 4a for guiding the left and right wheels 12 of the wheelchair 11, respectively, so that the user is positioned in the center in the lateral direction of the housing 1. The housing 1 has left and right side walls 6 each having a double-walled structure. Thus, each of the side walls 6 is composed of an inner wall 6a and an outer wall 6b defining therebetween a space 6c in which an inverted U-shaped pipe 7 is secured. A plurality of branched pipes 8 extend from each of the U-shaped pipes 7 and are oriented toward the user positioned in the housing 1. Each branched pipe 8 is equipped with a nozzle 9 at its tip end.
Each of the U-shaped pipe 7 is connected to an output pipe of a boiler (not shown) through a pump. Designated as 13 is a head rest attached to the door 10 for supporting the head of the user (A) thereon. A pipe 14 laterally extends within the housing 1 for being gripped by the user (A). Designated as 15 is a shower nozzle used for washing the hair of the user (A). The shower nozzle 15 is connected to a flexible tube extending out of the housing 1. In use, the user (A) sitting in the wheelchair 11 is introduced through the entrance into the housing 1 and, then, the door 10 is closed. Then, the pump is operated so that warm water in the form of small droplets is injected through each of the nozzles 9 toward the user (A).
The above washer has been found to have the following defects. Since the bottom of the housing 1 is closed with the bottom plate 4, the weight and height of the washer are increased. Further, the structure is complicated so that the costs are increased. Since the bottom plate 4 is located at a level higher than the floor, it is necessary to use gang boards in order to displace the wheelchair 11 from the floor to the bottom plate 4.. Such gang boards hinder the movement of an assistant for the user. Since the U-shaped pipes 7 are supported on the bottom plate 4 and rigid branched pipes 8 are located within the side walls 6, it is necessary to disassemble the side walls 6 and the bottom plate 4 in order to connect the pipes or to perform piping maintenance works. Further, since the U-shaped pipes 7 are connected through a pump to the output pipe from the boiler, the temperature and the flow rate of the warm water discharged from the nozzles 9 are apt to change when the water pressure of the city water is varied.